ON THE WHITE HOUSE; If the Senate Reconvenes, Two Seats May Be Empty

By PETER BAKER

Published: November 14, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama wants Congress to pass a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package and a bailout for the sputtering auto industry during a lame-duck session next week. But Senator Obama will not be there to vote on the proposals.

Mr. Obama announced Thursday that he would resign his Senate seat on Sunday, thus avoiding any obligation to show up next week and cutting short the odd overlap period when the next leader of the executive branch would still be a member of the legislative branch. This is the first time in nearly a half-century that a sitting member of Congress has been elected president.

In the past, this was not much of an issue since Congress did not meet after the election or, if it did, took up mostly routine matters. But next week's session could address the most urgent issue confronting the nation, namely how to pull out of the current economic slide. The outgoing Senate remains closely divided, with 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats.

Besides losing Mr. Obama's vote, the Democrats will most likely not have another of their members on hand either. Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the vice president-elect, is not expected to participate in the session. Nothing in the rules prevents either Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden from voting as senators since they have not yet been sworn into their new jobs. But the Obama camp decided it would be inappropriate for them to act as senators when bigger roles are on the horizon.

''The basic approach has been, he's going to be here in Chicago setting up his economic -- not only his economic team, but the policies he wants to outline for the country as soon as he gets sworn in, so we hit the ground running,'' Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, Mr. Obama's designated chief of staff, said Sunday on CBS's ''Face the Nation.''

Although losing two votes could hurt the Democrats if next week's issues are divided along party lines, Obama advisers played down the likelihood that Congress would be able to agree anyway. Either lawmakers come up with plans that win significant majorities, or they will not go forward with votes, some Democrats have said.

''It's important to bear in mind that Congress was wrestling with issues like an economic recovery program prior to the election and didn't come to a conclusion,'' Robert Gibbs, a senior Obama adviser, said this week. If Congress does not come to an agreement, he said, ''it will be the first priority'' after Mr. Obama is inaugurated and Democrats return with stronger majorities in both houses.

This is a relatively rare situation. In 220 years of presidential elections, only three other sitting members of Congress have won the White House: Representative James A. Garfield in 1880, Senator Warren G. Harding in 1920 and Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960. Garfield resigned from Congress right after his election, and Kennedy had no lame-duck session to worry about.

Harding showed up on the opening day of the lame-duck session that followed his election and gave a short valedictory speech on the Senate floor, taking note of the ''somewhat unusual circumstances'' of his presence and the ''delicacy about my position,'' according to Congressional records. He then boarded a train and returned to Ohio, never casting any votes in his dual role as president-elect and senator.

None of the senators elected vice president since World War II -- Al Gore, Hubert H. Humphrey, Lyndon B. Johnson, Walter F. Mondale or Dan Quayle -- faced a lame-duck session after being elected, according to Donald A. Ritchie, the associate Senate historian.

Senator Alben W. Barkley, Democrat of Kentucky, the majority leader, had a brief lame-duck session in December 1948 after he was elected vice president under Harry S. Truman, but it lasted just two hours and was largely a formality.

Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden must resign his Senate seat before noon on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, but he has not disclosed his plans and it is not clear what political calculations, if any, are driving that decision. In Illinois and Delaware, Democratic governors will appoint successors, who will serve until the next election, in 2010.

Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Biden has publicly endorsed a successor, but Mr. Obama did appear this week with Tammy Duckworth, one of the reported candidates to replace him in the Senate. He laid a wreath for Veterans Day in Chicago on Tuesday accompanied by Ms. Duckworth, an Illinois National Guard helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq. Ms. Duckworth lost a race for Congress in 2006 and is now the state's director of veterans affairs.

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois has not tipped his hand about whom he plans to appoint or whether he will do it in time for the new senator to participate in next week's session. The list of other Democrats mentioned in Illinois is long, including Representatives Danny K. Davis, Luis V. Gutierrez, Jesse L. Jackson Jr. and Jan Schakowsky; the State Senate president, Emil Jones Jr.; Attorney General Lisa Madigan; and several others.

If Ms. Duckworth does not get the Senate seat, she is seen by some as a possible secretary of veterans affairs in Mr. Obama's cabinet, although some of his advisers favor keeping the current secretary, James B. Peake.

In Delaware, the situation is more complicated. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner will appoint a successor if Mr. Biden resigns before Jan. 20. But her term ends the same day, and the incoming governor usually decides when the swearing-in ceremony takes place. If Ms. Minner's elected successor, Jack Markell, opts to take power before noon on Inauguration Day and Mr. Biden does not resign until the last moment, Mr. Markell would choose his successor.

Whoever makes the appointment, the new senator will have to face election in two years to keep the seat for the remaining four years of the term Mr. Biden won last week at the same time he was elected vice president.

The most intriguing possibility is Mr. Biden's son, Joseph R. Biden III, the state's attorney general, who is known as Beau. But since he is scheduled to serve in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard until next fall, that may be impractical. Many Democrats speculate that someone might be chosen to hold the seat for two years so the younger Mr. Biden could run in 2010.

Others mentioned as possible appointees in Delaware include Lt. Gov. John C. Carney Jr., who lost a Democratic primary to Mr. Markell, and Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor.